Re: DRC: baby passes on rabies to father and brother? - report of 154 cases, 10 deaths due to some kind of illness
ProMED has picked up the story:
Published Date: 2013-10-07 16:29:33
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Rabies - Congo DR: (SK) human-to-human transmission
Archive Number: 20131007.1988807
RABIES - DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: (SOUTH KIVU), HUMAN-TO-HUMAN TRANSMISSION
********************************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Mon 7 Oct 2013
Source: METRO, Reuters report [edited]
http://metro.co.uk/2013/10/07/infant-with-rabies-infected-father-and-brother-by-biting-them-4136540/
A baby was one of 10 to die in a rabies outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC].
A baby infected with rabies unwittingly spread the disease by biting its father and brother, a medical charity has revealed. The infant was among 10 people to die in an outbreak in the war-ravaged DRC. Another 154 people have been infected.
The baby's 27-year-old father and 7-year-old brother were both treated and have recovered, Medecins Sans Frontieres [MSF] told Metro. Team leader Dr Jantina Mandelkow said: "I held my breath when I heard that a child dying of rabies had bitten and infected his father and brother; it was horrific. It's an impossible situation. Family members would obviously want to be with those who are ill, but when a person has rabies, they can be a danger to people around them."
MSF teams have vaccinated 106 people in eastern Lemera but fear there could be at least 20 more untreated cases.
Rabies originates in stray dogs, and MSF is demanding that the Congolese government vaccinate domestic animals, as many people cannot afford the GBP 3.75 [USD 6.00] fee. Healthcare has been severely debilitated by [political] instability that has claimed 5.4 million lives since the outbreak of civil war in 1998.
"Rabies leads to death without treatment, and people in Lemera were incredibly scared; many walked for days to get to the hospital for treatment," Dr Mandelkow added. "With vaccinations unavailable elsewhere, they had nowhere else to turn. The situation in Lemera is exceptional and must be urgently addressed."
[Byline: Aidan Radnedge]
--
Communicated by:
Michelle Sellors <michelle.sellors@masta.org>
[Lemera is located in the province of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The above report is lacking in specific detail. It is presumed that the baby contracted infection from a dog-bite and in turn infected its father and elder brother, apparently by biting them, a rather unusual route of transmission of infection. It is not clear why the baby, unlike its family members, did not received post-exposure prophylaxis.
The circumstances surrounding the deaths of another 10 people are not explained other than that anti-rabies treatment in the Democratic Republic of Congo is expensive and not widely available. A programme to vaccinate domestic dogs announced in a ProMED-mail report in 2004 does not appear to have been undertaken due to lack of finance.
We thank Edith Marshall, DVM, MPVM, DACVPM, Adjunct Associate Professor, Washington State University Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health for submitting a similar report from the MSF website:
http://www.msf.org.uk/article/drc-family-infected-after-child-bite-rabies-horror
More specific information regarding this case of human-to-human transmission of rabies virus infection would be appreciated. - Mod.CP
